Dive Brief:

• Apparel retail executives from several global brands, including Gap Inc., H&M, and Inditex, have canceled trips to Dhaka, Bangladesh after two foreigners were killed there.

• A Japanese man who had been running a farming project for years was killed earlier this month, and an Italian aid worker was killed last month, both gunned down by people on motorcycles. The Islamic State, a terrorist group known as ISIS or ISIL, has taken credit for both murders. Earlier this year, four foreigners were also killed.

• The incidents have caused fear among foreigners in the country and led the United States and Canada to ask their diplomats and citizens to restrict their movements to and within the country.

Dive Insight:

Retail companies with factories in Bangladesh have been in the spotlight since a 2013 fatal fire and collapse of a garment factory there. Independent reviews have found that improvements to working conditions in garment factories in Bangladesh are slow and mixed, and many retailers are under fire for failing to follow through on money and attention to the problem.

Now those companies are facing restrictions on travel to oversee those factories as apparent terrorist-related violence has surged.

The executives say they don’t expect the travel restrictions to interfere with apparel production or shipments for the holidays, but the turmoil could hurt operations there if it continues. Bangladesh government officials have denied that the killings are the work of Islamic terrorists but say they are worried that they will hurt the garment business and the image of the country.

The problem underscores the complexity of having factories overseas. The garment industry, despite the low wages and sometimes dangerous working conditions, is an important source of employment to workers in Bangladesh. Many retailers have already begun to move their manufacture to other countries, including Myanmar and Vietnam.